Hand bag



Sept. 27, 1927.

M. BALDWIN HAND BAG' 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov 1926 INVENTOR fi/HEYBELOW/N M. BALDWIN HAND BAG 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 16., 1926.

INVENTQR l'fmay BFILDWM/ Sept. 27, 1927.

I M. BALDWIN HAND BAG Filed Nov, 16, 1926 S SheetS-Sheet a INVENTOR MmeBFILDWIA Patented ,Sept. 27, 1927.

UNITED STATES MARY BALDWIN, OF JACKSON HEIGHTS,

NEW YORK, ASSIGNOB OF ONEHALF TO FRITZ ZIEGLER, JR., OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

HAND BAG.

Application filed November 16, 1926. Serial No. 148,642.

My invention relates to hand-bags or purses of the type conventionallycarried by ladies and has for its object to provide a construction whichnormally has the characteristics of a conventional hand-bag or similararticle, and in addition is capable of be ing quickly and easilyconverted into an outer garment of the class commonly referred to asrain capes or coats. Other ob jects of the invention will appear fromthe description hereinafter and the features of novelty will be pointedout in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, which lllustrate an'example of theinvention without defining its limits, Fig. 1 is an exterior view of thehand-bag or the like; Figs. 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 are views illustratingprogressively the conversion of the bag into the form of a garment; Fig.7 is a View showing said garment in its completely unfolded condition,and Fig. 8 is a diagrammatic section on the line 8-8 of Fig. 6.

As shown in the drawings, the bag or purse when converted into the formof a garment or cape, comprises a rear section or back 10 cut to form a.depending body portion a and shoulder portions 5; as shown the back 10comprises a continuous piece of material, it being understood that thesame result may be obtained by making said back of more than one pieceof materlal. The garment resulting from the conversion of the bagfurther includes front sections 11 which at their outer edges and alongtheir upper ends are connected with the corresponding parts of the back10 by rows of stitching 12 as shown in Fig. 6. The front sections 11 arecut away at their upper ends as indicated at 0 for attachment, bysewing, with a hood 13-which is like-wise attached to the upper edge ofthe back 10 for instance by the stitching'12. The facilitate therefolding of the garment back into the form of a bag or purse, the hoodpreferably comprises a front portion (Z and a rear portion econnectedwith each other by stitching 14 as shown in Fig. 6. The inner edges ofthe front sections 11 merge into the free peripheral edge of the hood:as illustrated in Fig. 7 to provide a garment which is open at thefront; if desired said front sections 11 may be providedwith cooperatingfastening devices of suitable type for detachably connecting said inneredges with each other when the gar-- ment is being worn, althoughgenerally speaking-this is unnecessary. Slits 15 are formed in the frontsections 11 at the proper points to permit the hands and arms of thewearer to-be projected outwardly from beneath the garment at will.

At an intermediate point uponthe inner side of the garment a main panel,16 of suitable material which comprises the outside of the bag or purseis located, said panel being made of a material of the kind generallyused in the manufacture of ladies bags, purses and the like. In theillustrated example the panel 16 is made of silk fabric or otherequivalent materialso that the bag in the form shown in Fig. 1 willpresent the appearance of a hand-bag made of such material. The panel16, in the illustrated example, is of rectangular form and is of suchdimensions as to project beyond the opposite side edges of the back'10as shown in Fig. 6, said panel '16 being fixed n place upon the insideof the back 10, in surface engagement therewith, by lines of stitching12 and transverse lines of stitchmg 17; the lines of stitching 12 mayconstitute independent sewing or comprise continuations of the stitching12. In any case the lines of stitching 12 are located in close proximityto the. side edges of the back 10 and at a distance from the oppositeend edges of the panel 16, while the transverse lines of stitching 17are located at a corresponding distance from theupper and lower edges ofsaid panel as illustrated in Fig. 6; with this arrangement, flaps f areformed along the opposite side edges of the back 10 and similar flaps gare formed transversely across said back in spaced parallelism, it beingunderstood that the flaps f and g are loose withrespect to the back 10as shown diagramn'iatically in Fig. 8. i

A secondary panel 16, made of a material similar to that of the panel 16and comprising part of the hand-bag of Fig. 1, is located below andinregistry with the latter panel When the bag is in the converted form ofa garment as shown in Fig. 6. The

secondary panel is secured in place for instance by lines of stitching12 which may comprise continuations of the stitchings 12 or 12 and by atransverse line of stitching 17; when as in the illustrated example thesecondary panel 16 extends beneath the main panel 16, the lower line ofstitching 17 in Fig. 6 may serve to also sew the second ary panel inplace along its upper portion in Fig. 6.

In the preferred arrangement the secondary panel, when the bag is in theform of a garment, is in conterminous relationtothe main panel 16 andlikewise projects beyond the opposite side edges of the back 10 to formflaps 7 similar to the flaps f of the main panel 16. A suitable handle18 is attached at the proper place to the main panel 16. for carryingthe ladys bag represented bythe garment. in its folded form, astiffeninglmember of. suitable material being located in the fabric ofthe panel 16 between the opposite ends of the handle 18 as shown in.Fig. 8 to prevent flexing of the material when. the handbag is beingcarried. The secondary'panel 16 may beprovided with a suitable pocket 19which, when the device is in its folded condition, is located betweenthe two panels and provides the carrying characteristics of a customaryhand-bag. Suitable fastening" devices 20 are located upon the flaps ffor connection with cooperating fastening devicest2O" located upon theflaps fgthe fastening. devices 20 and 2O are such as to be capable ofbeing easily connected with and disconnected from each other and in theillustrated example are shown as of the glove fastener type. The oneflap 7 ofthe secondary panel 16 is provided with additional fasteningdevices 21 arranged for connection with cooperating fastening devices 21located at a proper intermediate point ,upon'the main panel 16 as shownin Fig. 6; these fastening devices 21 and 21 are of such a type as to becapable of being easily connected with and disconnected from each other.at will. In addition, the flaps g of the main panel are provided with aseries of fastening devices 22 which in the illus trated example areshown in the form of eyelets for the accommodation of laces 23 for thepurpose to be more fully set forth hereinafter. In its normalconditionthe hand-bag appears as illustrated in Fig. 1 and presentsthecharacteristics of a conventional type of such an article; itsappearance is handsome and it may readily becarried about in the mannerof the customary'handbag or purse. If at any time while the bag or purseis being carried about, it should become necessary, as for instancebecause of a sudden shower or rainstorm, the baglmay easily and quicklybe converted into a form in which it constitutes a protective garment ofthe rain cape of rain coat type. The conversion of the bag into the formof a garment may be accomplished in the following manner: The laces23are first removed from the eyelets 22 and the fastening devices 21 aredisconnected from the fastening devices 21 which permits the parts ofthe bag to be successively unfolded to the positions shown in Figs. 2and 3; the panels 16 and 16 are then unfolded to the position shown inFig. 4 which leaves the garment free to be unfolded to the po sitionshown in Fig. 6. The final step consists in reversing the garment tobring the panels 16 and 16 to the inside thereof, as shown in Fig. 7 inwhich condition the garment may be worn as a protection against theelements. WVhen; need for the garment has passed it may be refolded intothe form of the bag shown in Fig. 1, this being easily accomplished inthe following manner: The garment of Fig. 7 is first turned inside outafter which thefront sections 10 are folded inwardly upon thelines ofstitching 12 so as to lie in surface engagement with the back 10 asshown in Fig. 5; the hood is then flattened out and folded inwardlyuponthe lines 0, so as to lie in surface engagement with the inwardlyfolded front sections 10. Because of its construction, the hood13may beeasily flattened out on the line of stitching 14. The lower portion ofthe body a is then folded upward on the line of stitching 17 so as tolie in surface engagementwith the front sections .10 in registry withthesecondary panel163the appearance of the garment at this stage beingillustrated in Fig. 5. The upper portion of the garment is thensimilarly folded downwardly on the upper line of stitching 17 tobringthis upper portion into surface engagement with the frontsections 10 inregistry with the main -panel16; the appearance of the garment at thisstage of the folding is clearly indicated in Fig. 4; of the drawings. Asthe next step, the partly folded garment isfolded upon the lower line ofstitching 17 so as to bring the upwardly and downwardly folded portionsof the body a into surface engagement with each other, in which positionthe garment presents the appearance shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings. Thefastening devices 20 and 20 may now beconnected with each other tomaintain thepanel's 16 and 16 and the parts of the garment enclosedthereby in the illustrated position against separation. Thefoldedgarment inFig. 3 is then folded'upon itself from theleft towardthe right, the: folding takin place approximately upon a line lyingslightly to the left of the terminal fasteningdevices22in 8. This bringsthe garment 'to the condition show-nin 2 ofthe drawings in which thefastening de-' vices 21 of the main panel are exposed; the folding is.then completed by folding the up wardly projecting. portion downwardlyintol surface engagement with the previously folded portion of thecombined panels, after which the fastening devices 211 are connectedwith the fastening devices 21 to maintain the parts in the form ofthelady s hand-bag illustrated in Fig. l. The laces 23, may then bethreaded through the eyelets 22, as shown Inn in .both Figs. :1 and'2tosecure the parts :in the form of a hand-bag. In its final foldedcondition, the device'thus constitutes a ladys hand-bag on which thehandle 18 :is accessiblefor use in carrying the bag in any manner inwhich such hand-bags areusuall-y carried :and in which the pocket 19 isavailable for use as a container in the customary manner.

The garment into whichthe bag may be converted is worn as a cape in thecustomary manner, by being draped from the shoulders of the wearer andthe hood 13 is either permitted to hang downwardly at the back, or isworn upon the head, as may be desired. The slits 15 permit the hands andarms of the wearer to be projected from beneath the cape when-ever forany reason this should become necessary or desirable. The mate rial ofwhich the cape is constructed may be such as to provide warmth or toconstitute a waterproof covering to shield the wearer against rain andsnow, or said material may be such as to embody both of thesecharacteristics. In some cases, the flaps f, 7" and 9 may be otherwiseproduced and may comprise elements independent of any panels orequivalent members. lVith the construction set forth, a protectinggarment is provided which is capable of being readily carried about in afolded condition in combination with an attractive and useful hand-bagor other article so as to be available if, and when required. Inaddition to their other functions, the panels 16 and 16 may serve as alining to add to the warmth of the garment, this being particularly truewhen the latter is constructed of the customary waterproof materialwhich, generally speaking, is of light texture. By combining the handbagand the garment in a unitary structure the necessity for carrying thebag as an illdependent element when the garment is being worn isavoided.

Various changes in the specific form shown and described may be madewithout departing from the spirit of my invention.

I claim:

1. In a combination hand-bag and garment of the cape type, thecombination of side flaps extending lengthwise along opposite side; ofthe garment, transverse flaps extending transversely of the garment inspaced parallel relation, and cooperating fastening devices on each ofsaid transverse flaps whereby the parts of each flap may be detachablyconnected with each other to form the handbag.

2. In a combination handbag and garment of the cape type, adjacentpanels extending transversely acro s the back of said garment upon theinside thereof and projecting beyond the opposite side edges of saidback in the form of flaps, lines of stitching extending transverselyacross the back of said garment for securing said :panels in place and.for defining folding lines on which the garment may be folded, saidgarment being folded upon the panels, said panels and said tening,devices cooperating "with :each other on each of the said transverseflaps whereby the parts of each flap may be detachably connected to formthe handbag.

3. A combination handbag and garment of the cape type comprising a back,front sections connected therewith, lines of stitching, a main panelextending transversely of the back upon the inside thereof, lines ofstitching for securing said main panel in place and located at adistance from its peripheral edges to define peripheral flaps extendinglengthwise and transversely of the back, fastening devices upon theflaps of said main panel extending lengthwise of the garment, asecondary panel secured upon the garment adjacent the main panel,cooperating fastening devices on the flaps of said secondary paneladapted for connection with the fastening devices upon the flaps of saidmain panel to fix the panels in surface engagement with each other,additional fastening devices at an intermediate point of said mainpanel, cooperating fastening devices on the secondary panel adapted forconnection with said additional fastening devices of the main panel formaintaining the panels in a folded position, and a plurality of eyeletson the transverse flaps having laces adapted to be threaded through saideyelets for securing the folded panels in the form of a handbag.

a. A combination handbag and garment comprising a back, front sectionsconnected therewith by lines of stitching, a hood formed from a portionof said bag and portions of said front sections projecting beyond themain portions of said bag and said front sections, a main panelextending transversely of the back upon the inside thereof, lines ofstitching for securing said main panel in place, located at a distancefrom its peripheral edges to define peripheral flaps extendinglengthwise and transversely of the back, fastening devices upon theflaps of said main panel extending lengthwise of the garment, a handlelocated at a point in-, termediate the length of said main panel andtransversely thereto, stiffening means placed between the garment andsaid main panel for cooperation with said handle, a secondary panelsecured upon the garment adjacent the main panel, a pocket secured tosaid secondary panel transversely thereto at a point intermediate itslength and adapted to contain articles carried in the handbag,cooperating fastening devices on the flaps of said secondary paneladapted for connection with the fastening devices upon the flaps of saidmain panel to fix the panels in surface engagement With each other,additional fastoning devices at an intermediate point of said main panelcooperating fastening deavicesr on the secondaryspanel adapted for 5connection with said additional fastening devices ofithemainpanel formaintaining the panels in a folded position, and aplurality of eyeletson the transverse flapsfhaving panels in the form of a handbag.

' In testimony whereof I have herenntoset my hand. 1

a MARYJBALDWIN.

